1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a modular pole system which supports a light fixture, the modular pole system having a decorative non-load bearing outer cover encasing a load bearing inner skeleton which may also act as a passive defense mechanism.
2. Review of the Prior Art
Full length lighting standards have been utilized in the prior art and are typically made of cast iron or other metallized product throughout. Problematic with these designs is the weight of the overall lighting standard and the difficulty in casting the iron in the proper decorative format. Further difficulties involved with utilizing decorative metal lighting standards is the degradation of appearance due to environment or other external factors. Thus, after extended periods of use, previously known ornamental lighting standards tend to show increasing wear, become problematic for repair, are fairly expensive from a manufacturing point of view, and overall tend to be inefficient in the use of materials. Additional problems with prior art ornamental lighting standards exist in that they have previously further been utilized in segmented form due to their weight, wherein multiple segments are added upon each other to create the upwardly extending lighting standard. Such weight issues required extensive lifting machinery to install the standard, exceptionally strong anchoring bolts to ensure vertical stability, affixation brackets necessary to attaching the fixture directly to the standard or metallized external portion of the standard and other structural enhancements and support for maintaining the standard in proper upright and stable form.
An additional problem with the prior art lighting standards exist in the vulnerability for the lighting standards to be collapsed or even destroyed after impact from an automobile or other heavy vehicle. It may therefore be desirable to combine both a lightweight decorative unitary structure forming an ornamental lighting standard with an internal skeletal structure which may combine to perform as a passive defense measure. None of the prior art decorative lighting standards provide a sufficient decorative lightweight appearance in combination with a strengthened structural support which may form a passive defense measure.